James Maslow Reflects on the Four-Year Anniversary of Big Time Rush’s Finale

We CANNOT believe that it’s been more than four years since the last episode of Big Time Rush aired on Nickelodeon. Although the band comprised of Logan Henderson, James Maslow, Kendall Schmidt and Carlos PenaVega are still the best of friends and hang out all the time, we do miss seeing them on stage together as a musical unit. While we’re thrilled that Kendall is killin’ it with Heffron Drive, we’re BEYOND excited that another BTR guy is finally releasing new music.

We got to hang out with James on the roof of the Empire State Building not too long ago and he — get ready to be SUPER jealous — serenaded us with his newest single, “How I Like It.” Not only did he show off his angelic voice, but he also proved but he truly one of the nicest people on the planet. We would know, becasue *humble brag* we also got to chat with him after the performance.

We obviously had to talk about the TV show (and group), which James couldn’t BELIEVE concluded four years ago.

“It’s pretty cool to look back at the past four years since Big Time Rush ended,” he told us. “You know, the rate is only increasing. I’m putting so much more music out in a faster rate of time now than I did earlier.”

While JM will obviously always hold the Nick-formed band close to his heart, he acknowledges that it was never his ultimate career goal.

The 27-year-old explained, “It’s a relief to me to finally have my music out. I’ve always made it clear that my end goal was to do my own thing. I was hyped to do the old band, but it was always a stepping stone to me because I didn’t create it. I was frustrated during the years it took me to find my sound and figure out what I want to talk about. But long story short, once I finally figured that stuff out, there was this gigantic excited release.”

Not only did the singer release a new album, How I Like It, back in March, but he also recently became the newest winner of the Macy’s iHeartRadio Rising Star Contest. To us, he was already a huge star, but this win solidified his celebrity power.

“Winning the Macy’s Rising Star was definitely validating, especially since it is a fan-driven competition,” he explained. “And it was all predicated on my new music, it was so cool to see all my fans stand up and go, “Yup, I dig this.” I am so incredibly grateful for the fans that have been with me through this whole process, but I think I’m most excited about the fans who have no idea who I am. I love a challenge and it’s really cool for people to come and say, ‘Oh I heard he was in a band; is he any good?” and then listen to my new music and go, “Oh yeah that’s pretty dope” and be able to feel like a legit artist.”

As for what’s next? The hottie is taking it one day at a time and is committed to not letting others dictate his future.

“There was like two years or so where I was working and doing a lot of cool independent films like 48 Hours to Live and we wrote a bunch of music, but I was still trying to figure out where to go. Now, I’m very confident about where I need to go. Music is moving, filming is moving — I fly out to Atlanta tomorrow to start filming a new movie where I am a serial killer. It’s against the type. As an artist, musician and actor I want to do what I want to do, not what everyone else is telling me I should do based on my past.”

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